JOFFRE'S RIGHT. HAND MEN.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15218, 4 March 1915, Page 8

JOFFRE'S RIGHT. HAND MEN.

THE LEADING FREBGeII*': GENERALS. "." r^o The staff of Joffre and Foch cooto* ' at present of Generals do C&stelntii -" Matmoury, do liaud'hny 5 Largle de Cary, Dubai], and "What do we know aboat e»J?-" ; chiefs?" writes W. E. Dimnet i tt &t% "Saturday Review." .Merely that tW ' have been sticccssfnl where others has}'• ponod to bo leas so, and the is that tho generalissimo, withoatauVof the bombast qr cruelty of rolut ionary , military authorities,«' ani. " plies, however, the same principles, anf thinks that the Republic had'hotter"e^.. trust her defence to those who provf'" equal to it. It is reiuarkahlo that (Hi' resolute application of this method coincided with the reinstatement of Millerand at tho War Office towarfj'i' the end of August. No traces of polP. tical considerations will he found in tluj/ action of Joffre nor in that of M. Mil-;, lerand. -' ; . It is certainly remarkable that at £bY: end of July General Poch, who to-day '\ relievos the generalissimo of the cr part of his re«ponsibilit*- in the norflj' of Franco, was merely the commandant '•' of nn army corps—one of twenty. wMSip General de Maud'huywas a plain •'bn.ir gadier, ono of six or soven hundred,'" whoso elevation hns h»d no paralfelt '■"■'* " ' ""■

f It ought not to bo inferred tn*Vif j General Foch, and even t General" deC. 1 Mapd'huy, wore obscure; it is only tbts" 3 indifference of the modern mnn to minTi 3 tan- specialists that is to bo blamed for-} the ignorance of their merit, in witijhf. I practically all of us lived until a reiyi recent date. General Foch and Gene.'? , ral do Maudiiuy had both been pw*J c fessors of strategy at the Ecole'ifa' ~' Guerre, and both had been continued--1 in this capacity for a longer period tUa .* any of their wedecessors. Foch. , after ■: - retaining this post during five yews, f'. '■> even came back to the Ecole an tmmand.int or director, so that it r a«rV' bo said thai most of thn officers lihm'J' military training was completed bubj: - I the beginning of the twentieth conferr . bear themarie of either Foch or de 3f«£ i 'hnv. and not infrequently of ~ - of all thus outsiders were. entirely.ua. [ aware, and their curiosity is thejfcjwj'"----1 °'General Foch is 63. like .Toff n,%t : - A - I he. is tall, slender, and flexible,- vA : ' i altogether much younger lookiug tta, the jreneralissimo. Though ho was Don - at Metz, his family comes from \bt:\----i and he is not Alsatian,-.,, as some people will imagine. They ardent Catholics, and one- of. tbe.GessiViJ oral's brothers died a Jesuit only a fe*£ years ago. Foch, like Joffre, his military training at tho Ecole technique, enlisted during the w»r of V IS7O, and, like Joffre again", " lived ever since in patient ' of. and preserving qualification for..tl»~'«-. j revanche. XVnring his two terms of'ser->'*f, vice at the Ecole do Gnerre he* pro;- j* duced two considerable works, "Pria-H j cines do la Guerre" nnd "T>o la Con-q dyito de la Guerre." -which give a'high V> idea of their author's character JuriU? talent. There is nothing in them lhaj&g. i oujrht to scare away the reader. Their style ha« tho geometrk £ cal lucidity which is the cian'fi birthright, but- in spite of deliberate impersonality generally «£|j| I tached to that stylo of writing, th«iWp| emanates from it a .curious nußUfrj{.&' which gradually shows Uβ tho . as a livine person. We have : thevißK:r| ' pression of ar vast mental, cawpjip'ts--1 turned to the life-long stMd^.gEjgwK' :> cmating subject, and ■ , the dignity of.attitude, »ndi»»;s»w!tj -'■ : nlness which 'mastery ineviW^sj^K...-• ' duces War has been the constant «efi«v,,, ttition of this powerful brain. 1 W>fl^.'•' Conduit©-de In Guerre" this mwp- ,;. Ie the minute historical exanuiA* y' •tion'of the battles of'the First Empfffe^ , and JB7O. "Nothine can tWt^ • exoerience of -war," writes the "except tho history of war, ana,**: I clear that he understands the wor|gj "history" as all those who go to pnst for a lfis«)n in creatness tmdefc«/, • Ftand it. Principes de ',lj|t: Guerre" ie more immediately techav.^ I cal. yet it- strikes one as being les* speculation than a visualising, of wh»i^ . modern war was sure to be. If -tjjsj| reader did not feel that he lacks'«W3 •background, which only the tion a million times repeated of*c(fa*j|. creto details can create, he tempted to marvel at the ary simolicity of these views. good judge who was very near the geijSfl eral until a wound removed him while from the —to him — cceno, tells mo that this owSj directness marked the MtionVoyijL Foch at the battle of the they formerly marked his teaching|g-w are the perfection .to which only can aspire. Everybody can th? whole secret of strategy is to plaigjjft superior forces before the weak point, but to see; as Foch didigrPj? September 9th, that there must gap between the Prussian Guard the Saxon army, and to be bring from all the country round i,|j||||; tillery enough to -crush the Guari.JjC<acit was crushed in the marshes, is tho action of genius. ' ,J As to General de Maud'huy, ally a Breton and a Koyalist, longs to the Chasseurs, and h*"jßf». spent much of his life in .the towns near the Eastern frontier, war~%. ning, like the true hunter, all the vosgee in quest of his- prey/As,'^ , most of the officers in tho same he strikes at first sight by his t military.-:?;; appoarauce. Ho is a dark, agile, liti*> j g' man, wonderfully able-bodied, and ; ways ready for a quick, long in&reJi. l j| : The men worship him. . if he invariably ready also for a argument, at whicn he has no brilliance and resourcefulness, tt<*? ; would seem to be more of the cub-lieutenant than of the general js' |? him. . Even thoeo who have admired..ft, his teaching at the Ecole de the most, cannot holp winding up therr-,A remarks with .the refrain, "Oh! a of indomitable energy•" But .'huy'e energy, like tliat of the siowerjriV going Joffre, is made of professww'-jg. intelligence as well as of vitality. nobody wondered at his promotion. A"-^TV!r-;'